Hanley Town Reserves fell to a 2-1 defeat on wednesday night at home against Market Drayton Town Development.
Within the first minute the Reserves should have been awaded a penalty when Hanley's no9 Ananaba raced clear in on goal only for a tackle from behind to deny him a clear shot at goal, the referee consulted with his assistant and awarded a goal-kick.
With Hanley's Armstrong, Ananaba and Effah causing the visitors problems it was not long before Hanley took a deserved lead.On 15 minutes Armstong's jinking run earned Hanley a corner which was whipped to the far post where Effah headed into the roof of the net. Both sides were guilty of giving the ball away to easily as the half wore on.

After conceding the goal the visitors reacted by launching a number of attacks twice surging runs from midfield were brilliantly defended by Hanley centre-back Edwards. Ten minutes after conceding Market Drayton were level a corner from the left was not dealt with by the Hanley defence the ball falling kindly to a Drayton player who fired into the roof of the net from the edge of the six yard box. A superb goal saving tackle by Edwards fellow centre-back partner Carruthers denied the visitors taking the lead before the interval.

Half-Time: Hanley Town Reserves 1 - 1 Market Drayton Town Dev:

Hanley dominated majority of the second half but a combination of good defending by the visitors and poor finishing by Hanley kept the scores level which would come back to haunt Hanley as the visitors always had a threat on the counter and from set pieces, one of those counter attacks almost produced a goal a run down the right of the penalty area and a shot across the face of goal flashed just past the Hanley post.

For all the possession Hanley had during the second half superb defending by the visitors denied Hanley clear cut chances which resulted in Hanley centre-back Carruthers sin-binned for ten minutes as frustration began to show. In those ten minutes Hanley created two clear cut chances as they still dominated possession, Effah twice was clear in on goal, his first effort was saved by the keeper, two minutes later Effah dragged a shot just wide of the post when clean through.

The sucker punch arrived a few minutes from the end of the game a long free-kick was launched towards the Hanley penalty area and a defensive mix up between keeper and defender allowed the ball to find the net. Hanley pressed to find a leveller but the visitors held on for the win. Two league games played, two losses but in both games the lads did not deserve to lose.

Full-Time:
Hanley Town Reserves 1 - 2 Market Drayton Town Dev:

Next Up for Hanley Town Reserves:
Staffordshire Football League Division One:
Saturday 8th August: Kick-Off 2pm:
Audley Reserves (Away)
Old Road,
Newcastle
ST7 8QH